The 

National Association 

for 

Constitutional Government 

) 


A STATEMENT 
FOR 

ITS AIMS AND PURPOSES 

BY 

DAVID JAYNE HILL \ 


OFFICE 

806 Colorado Building 

Washington, D. C. 






AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE NATIONAL 
ASSOCIATION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL 
GOVERNMENT 


In order to inform the public more fully as to the aims 
and purposes of the National Association for Constitutional 
Government, it should be stated first of all that the Asso¬ 
ciation is a purely patriotic and in no sense a partisan society. 
It has been formed in the conviction that the opposition 
recently manifested in so many ways to the institutions of 
representative government established by the Constitution 
of the United States is the result in part of ignorance of 
the significance and value of the constitutional guarantees, 
and in the equally firm conviction that unlimited experi¬ 
ment in social legislation is a menace not only to these insti¬ 
tutions and these guarantees, but to the permanent existence 
of real self-government. The primary aim of the Associa¬ 
tion is to preserve these institutions and these guarantees, 
first, by explaining their meaning; and, second, by demand¬ 
ing a sufficiently deliberate consideration of proposals of 
change in the National Constitution to warrant a reasoned 
acceptance of them before their adoption. 

While avowedly conservative in the sense of carefully 
guarding all that is really valuable in our system of govern¬ 
ment, the Association is not in the slightest degree adverse 
to progressive action when it is based on a careful study 
of facts and consequences, and does not conflict with the 
guarantee of individual rights. 

THE CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES 

The primary idea of constitutional government in the 
American sense, is not, as is too generally supposed, the 
mere division, distribution, and definition of public powers. 
It is rather the necessary restriction of the powers of 
government, and especially the limitation of the legislative 
power. It maintains that a well-organized society must 
involve the recognition of certain personal rights which 
government should not d^ny or destroy. It demands, there¬ 
fore, the effective guarantee of those rights by so limiting 
the absolute power of the lawmaker as to prevent his in¬ 
fringement of them. 

Gift 

Mrs*G3lUaf<f Hunt 

March 31,i933 




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Accepting the existence of such rights as the true founda¬ 
tion of the State, it is further maintained that the particular 
rights enumerated and guaranteed by the National Consti¬ 
tution should not be lightly abandoned. 

IGNORANCE OF THE CONSTITUTION 

The founders of the Association have been deeply im¬ 
pressed by the appalling lack of knowledge on the part of 
the great majority of voters of the real nature and meaning 
of the National Constitution, particularly in the case of 
persons who have not grown up amidst the American tradi¬ 
tions and of those who in great numbers are coming for 
the first time to the exercise of the elective franchise, or are 
solicited to participate in the initiative and the referendum, 
which are the easy instruments of impromptu and radical 
legislation. It is a part of the purpose of the Association 
not only to warn the people of the dangers to liberty that 
lurk in impromptu methods of legislation, but to diminish 
as far as possible the deplorable ignorance of the National 
Constitution by bringing to the attention of the people the 
real meaning and value of its provisions. To appreciate 
the importance of this attempt, it is only necessary for each 
individual to ask himself how much he personally remem¬ 
bers of those provisions and of the questions affecting his 
own rights and liberties arising under them, and then to 
consider how much less knowledge of these subjects is 
likely to be possessed by those who have had fewer or 
inferior advantages. It may be well also for each reader 
to ask himself where he would turn to find at a moment’s 
notice a copy of that document for consultation, and espe¬ 
cially where an ordinary man could find it readily accessible 
in a cheap form. This was recently brought home to the 
present writer by the remark of a distinguished editor that 
he had never seen, and would not know where to find, a 
copy of the Constitution in a separate pamphlet form avail¬ 
able for general circulation. He thought it not improbable 
that a great majority even of native-born voters had never 
read, or even seen, a copy of the basic law of the land. 


THE FIELD OPEN FOR THE DEMAGOGUE 

Consider for a moment how great is the opportunity of 
the demagogue seeking to lead a mere class or sectional 
movement under these conditions. He is able to embark 
thousands upon an uncharted sea, and to awaken and ap¬ 
propriate to his private purposes, demands and expectations 
of a most dangerous character. As an example of this 


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opportunity almost incredible, an eminent journalist in¬ 
formed the present writer that he had recently heard a street 
orator declaim against the Constitution of the United States 
and the system of government it embodies, on the ground 
that that document prohibited the election to the presidency 
of any man belonging to a certain influential organization; 
and in the large assembly that was listening to his harangue 
there was no voice lifted in contradiction! It is not, there¬ 
fore, to be wondered at that we so frequently hear the 
Constitution denounced as a “plutocratic document” which 
should promptly be amended out of existence, and that hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of American voters actually believe this. 
It has been publicly proclaimed upon many occasions, and 
the idea has been embodied in solemn resolutions by more 
than one large and powerful body of our fellow citizens, that 
any judge deciding to be unconstitutional, any law voted 
by the majority of a legislative body, should be required 
to vacate his office. When we consider what laws have 
sometimes received legislative sanction, and what laws 
might receive it were it not for constitutional restraints, 
we can form a picture of what would be the condition of 
this country and what the desirability of living in it, if 
this idea were to dominate. 

THE DANGER TO PERSONAL LIBERTY 

When we take into account the anarchic temper of a 
portion of our population and the ease with which the 
public is sometimes , swayed by temporary emotion, we 
may, perhaps, realize in some degree how few of our in¬ 
dividual rights would be respected if there were no con¬ 
stitutional guarantees. It is not intended here to deny 
that there is room for improvement in the police regulation 
of personal conduct offensive to the community, as well as 
such corporate methods as are prejudicial to the life, 
and health, and peace of the community; but it is yet to 
be demonstrated that there is any truly beneficial social 
reform that is prohibited or obstructed by the National 
Constitution. When that is demonstrated it will be time 
to consider how far, and in what manner, that obstruction 
should be removed. If it is a real demonstration, if it is of a 
nature to produce conviction after deliberate consideration, 
there is nothing in the aims and purposes of the National 
Association to prevent the adoption of such a reform. The 
attitude of the Association is that no diminution of the 
present constitutional guarantees should be permitted with¬ 
out deliberate and reasoned consideration, and that every 
change should be considered upon its own specific merits. 


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It is not sufficiently realized by the thinking public that 
there are at the present moment most radical changes in 
our system of government pressing for adoption, and that 
there is a strong movement in favor of rendering easier any 
future changes, regardless of their nature, by facilitating 
the process of amendment. 


OVERLOADING THE CONSTITUTION 

The Association regards it as a duty to point out the 
danger of reconstructing the Constitution in such a sense 
as to make it the embodiment of what at a particular moment 
might be considered a final ideal legislative code for the 
whole nation. The tendency toward such extremes has 
been strong in the case of some of our State constitutions. 
It is not assumed that the present National Constitution is 
an absolutely perfect instrument. It wisely made provision 
for its own amendment. If that provision had been less 
rigorous, it would no doubt have been frequently radically 
reconstructed, probably to its detriment, as a piece of organic 
legislation. The opportunity would have been afforded for 
a certain number of States to impose their will upon other 
States where public sentiment and local interests would 
have been profoundly affected. It is by no means certain 
that the Union could have endured this strain. Is it certain 
that it can endure it now? The permanence of our system 
depends very largely upon the renunciation of absolute 
power by the central authorities. It is founded on respect 
and consideration for local interests and susceptibilities. 
The American people never would have consented, and it 
is unlikely that they ever will freely consent, to a stringent 
central domination of their personal affairs. The over¬ 
loading of the Constitution with arbitrary mandates which 
the nation as a whole did not approve, would weaken its 
authority as well as entirely change its character. Its 
strength and dignity lie in its simplicity and its firm guard¬ 
ianship of obvious and indisputable rights and liberties. 

THE TRUE NATURE OF A FUNDAMENTAL LAW 

One of the important functions of the Association is to 
point out and keep constantly before the attention of the 
people the essential difference between a fundamental law 
and mere statutory legislation. Legislative acts are intended 
to express the temporary will of the people, and the statutes 
adopted from time to time are of necessity more or less 
experimental. They are intended to meet the apparent 


needs of the time and the jurisdiction for which they seem 
to be adopted. They express merely the present wishes of 
the majority, or of what seems to be a majority. Is there 
to be no law for legislative bodies? Are they to have a 
free hand to pass any law that may for the moment seem to 
the majority, or by certain influences be made to seem, 
desirable? Where, then, are the rights of minorities to find 
their protection ? Or is it to be held that minorities have no 
rights ? 

It is here that the true nature of a fundamental law ap¬ 
pears. It is primarily a law for legislators. It defines their 
scope and prerogatives, and limits the extent of their power. 
It declares what they may not do, because it intends that 
they shall not possess unlimited power. It declares that the 
individual man has certain inherent rights which legislatures 
are bound to respect. It is the guarantee, and the only 
solid guarantee, that these rights will be respected. It 
creates a broad channel through which legislation may 
safely flow, but it hems in its onward moving current with 
granite banks, in order to prevent the devastation of its over¬ 
flow. It is the declaration of the deliberate and permanent 
decision of the people to the effect that their spasms, their 
emotions, their class interests, and their speculative theories 
shall not destroy their juristic security. 


THE METHODS OF ACTION 

It is the purpose of the National Association for Consti¬ 
tutional Government to see that these principles are prop¬ 
erly understood and properly defended. It desires, there¬ 
fore, to bring them constantly to the attention of the people 
of the United States for their consideration, and for such 
action as may from time to time seem appropriate. It de¬ 
sires to avoid every form of dogmatism, and invites the^ 
help of all who believe it has a useful work to accomplish 
to participate in its performance. It wishes to obtain the 
largest possible membership of patriotic men and women, 
and might serve a useful purpose in unifying and con¬ 
centrating the activities of all the truly patriotic societies. 
It contemplates such publications, such meetings, such local 
centers, and such public lectures as its directing body may 
find expedient, and may receive the means to employ, as 
agencies for the promotion of its object, which is to inspire 
respect for the Constitution of the United States as the 
legal guarantee of the liberties of the American people. To 
this end it invites such aid and support as those of like 


mind may be disposed to give it. Further information re¬ 
garding it may be had of its Secretary, Charles Ray Dean, 
Washington, D. C., and dues for membership and voluntary 
contributions may be sent to its Treasurer, John Joy Edson, 
President of the Washington Loan and Trust Company. 

David Jayne Hide. 


THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF THE STATE 
OF NEW YORK. 

Albany, 1915. 


May 12, 1915. 

My Dear Colonel Hopkins : 

I have received your letter of May sixth and very cheerfully com¬ 
ply with your request. I approve very earnestly the purpose of the 
National Association for Constitutional Government under the 
guidance of the General Committee of which Mr. David Jayne Hill 
is chairman. The people of the United States have enjoyed con¬ 
stitutional freedom a long time without any conscious effort to 
maintain it, and many of us have forgotten, many of us have never 
learned, that it does not come and remain of itself. The principles 
of our Constitutions have passed without question so long that 
many of us have forgotten the reasons which underlie them and the 
necessity for maintaining them. Now, the principles are questioned. 
The assumptions of individual rights which underlie our system of 
government are denied and it is very important that the people of 
the country should address themselves to the study of their Consti¬ 
tutions and the reason for them. That ought to be done before 
changes are made which would be very difficult to re^•erse and 
which would result in giving us an entirely different kind of gov¬ 
ernment. Your Association appears admirably adapted to bring 
about that kind of study and consideration, and it has my very best 
wishes. 

With kind regards, I am. 

Always faithfully yours, 

(Signed) Ei.ihu Root. 

Colonel Archibald Hopkins, 

1826 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W., 

Washington, D. C. 


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